Workforce Part 2
In the Workforce '' |image= |series= |production=40840-263 |producer(s)= |story=Kenneth Biller and Bryan Fuller |script=Kenneth Biller and Michael Taylor |director=Roxann Dawson |imdbref=tt0709012 |guests=James Read as Jaffen, Don Most as Kadan, John Aniston as Quarran Ambassador, Iona Morris as Umali, Tom Virtue as Supervisor, Michael Behrens as Coyote, Robert Joy as Inspector Yerid, Jay Harrington as Dr. Ravoc, David Keith Anderson as Ens. Ashmore, Akemi Royer as Med Tech, Matthew Williamson as Security Officer #2, Robert Mammana as Guard, Damara Reilly as Alien Surgeon, Joseph Will as Security Officer #3 and Majel Barrett as Narrator |previous_production=Workforce Part 1 |next_production=Human Error |episode=VGR S07E17 |airdate=28 February 2001 |previous_release=Workforce Part 1 |next_release=Human Error |story_date(s)=54622.4 (2377) |previous_story=Workforce Part 1 |next_story=Human Error }} Summary Previously Returning to Voyager after an away mission, Chakotay, Harry and Neelix learn from the EMH that the ship was attacked, forcing an evacuation that led to their crewmates being abducted, and given false memories, to serve as workers on an alien planet bedeviled by a labour shortage. After travelling to the planet in disguise, Chakotay is injured in a fight with local security forces while rescuing Torres, only to be rescued by an amnesiac Janeway. Conclusion With Neelix's help, Torres begins to remember her life as a starship engineer. On the planet, Chakotay (who has managed to escape capture thus far) approaches Janeway, but is unable to overcome her skepticism. A young doctor begins to become suspicious of so many people of the same species having the apparently rare "dysphoria syndrome," and almost all of them getting jobs at the energy plant at the same time, and none of them having any previous file references. After gentle inquiries result in an official "hands-off" warning from local law enforcement, the doctor approaches Annika Hansen, who is initially sceptical, but begins taking Tuvok's rants seriously. What the Efficiency Monitor discovers breaks the spell: the workers at the plant were diagnosed with dysphoria syndrome (and treated with mind-altering drugs), specifically so they could be placed in the plant to alleviate a labor shortage. Examining the files of the plant's newest "employees," she discovers they are all Voyager officers and crew, and begins to launch a deeper investigation. Meanwhile, Chakotay, Kim and the Doctor discover the planet's own government is unaware of the kidnappings. Working with the plant's doctor, Annika unmasks the conspiracy and frees Voyager's crew, and the planetary government pledges to end the forced-labor practices begun by plant staff. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Scanner on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 6:55 pm: Okay, I have a potential nit. I didn't tape it, so I'm not sure but I am almost positive about 3/4 of the way through the episode when the ECH and Harry are on the bridge, a redshirt is at Tuvok(?)'s console in the background. There should not have been any redshirts and only the ECH (seen clearly in the foreground), Harry, Neelix and B'Ellana on the ship at that time. Can anyone verify this? Spornan on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 8:00 pm: Scanner, that's the doctor standing over by Tuvok's console. # Spornan on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 7:58 pm: Doc's plan to throw off the pursuing ships: Photonic Shockwave. How is a big ol' blast of light gonna do anything? I wish they'd stop using Photonic as a prefix to technobabble weapons. (Photonic Cannon...a flashlight) TomM on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 9:50 pm:''Matter-antimatter anihilation, as in Photon Torpedoes, produces tremendous energy release in the form of photons. There are a lot released, and at all wavelengths, including dangerously energetic levels of gamma waves and cosmic waves. Some of the other uses of "photons" or "photonic" as part of the techno-babble may have produced nonsense like a "photon cannon" that if you think about the principles involved would be no more dangerous than a high-powered flashlight, but this is one case where it is appropriate to use the phrase.''Mr. Luxury Yacht on Thursday, March 01, 2001 - 5:56 am: TomM, while you are entirely correct that when antimatter and matter come together they produce high energy photons (radiation), there still doesn't appear to be any reason why it disabled the ships. The doctor used a regular photon torpedo and detonated it in between the two ships, when typically it would detonate on impact with the shields. So, why would the burst be more effective farther away from the ship, when 90% of its energy is going to be radiated (and radially, BTW, not in one plane which was what was shown (thus, it would come at Voyager as well)) into space? # Harry's argument for now wanting the Doc to remain a commanding officer is "That skill was programmed into you," Umm...EVERYTHING was programmed into the doctor. Including his medical skills, which doesn't keep him from being a •••• fine Doctor. That's like telling a real doctor, "Sorry Doc, but you didn't even figure out that procedure yourself! They had to teach you how to do it in med school!" TomM on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 9:50 pm: This conversation occurred before Harry and the Doctor followed Chakotay's last order to "work it out." Harry was sniping at the Doc, and not being very logical about it. It's a nit against Harry, but not necessarily against the show or the writers. # Shane Tourtellotte on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 8:13 pm: These weapons confuse me a bit. Chakotay gets winged by one shot, and his shoulder is badly burned. He drills his two pursuers full in the chest, and they're just stunned. Does this seem wrong to anybody else? (Sit down, Jwb52z.) Their weapons were obviously on a higher setting than Chakotay’s! # Nice trick with the escape pods, except wouldn't the attacking ships have noticed the lack of lifesigns in them, and become suspicious? Rene on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 8:57 pm: They probably had the pods emit false life sign readings. # When we first saw Tom's TV, I believe it was black and white. He watches a cartoon in color at the end of this episode. (I should review the nitboard for Memorial to be sure.) TomM on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 9:50 pm: Belanna admitted that she took liberties with the specifications for that model when she replicated it (including a remote, for example), and the catroon Tom watched in that ep was B&W, and doesn't prove the TV was not color. # If you're hiding a ship in the shadows, why would you have the lights on? And these were on the warp nacelles. Isn't that supposed to be only when they're at warp? No – They’re always lit when the warp drive is online. # Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 10:24 pm: Will we notice the missing escape pods on Voyager? Probably not. They'll simply replace them the same way they replace all of those shuttles. They might have retrieved them when the incident was resolved. # JAM on Thursday, March 01, 2001 - 1:18 am: I thought that maybe the planet's mind altering devices would have been the best tool to reverse the effects. Instead, ECH/Doc spends time to do it himself. (It's even credited in the log entry at the end of the episode.) Perhaps they are only designed to implant false memories, and are incapable of restoring real ones. # Brian Lombard on Thursday, March 01, 2001 - 9:33 am: I found it odd that Jaffen's memory had not been altered with. In part 1, Janeway was telling him about Earth - overpopulated, polluted, not enough work. Jaffen said that that's exactly what his world was like. I chalked that up to the conditioning, but since he didn't have it, it looks like an amazing coincidence! JAM on Thursday, March 01, 2001 - 10:41 am: Well, maybe it was just a line to impress. Y'know "Hey we both have something in common! Now lets go on a date." Spockania on Thursday, March 01, 2001 - 12:43 pm: Jaffen's comment about his homeworld brings up an interesting point (assuming it is true). Why is there a labor shortage? Apparently things are so bad that it is actually cost effective to kidnap and brainwash workers. Why not just go to Jaffen's planet and recruit from the unemployed there? Or why not go to some other planet? Think about it. They can implant memories, so they must be able to implant 'memories' of classes and things, so whoever they recruited would not need any experience at all. So the real nit with this episode is- why is there a labor shortage? Anonymous on Monday, March 05, 2001 - 8:55 pm: It may not be as simple as implanting memories or knowledge. There's more to doing some things than textbook knowledge. Swimming, for example.''Seniram 15:35, August 13, 2018 (UTC)''Perhaps there are too many people dying, and not enough people of working age available to replace them? # Sheila on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 8:38 pm: Are the Universal Translators not still part of the communicator badges? If so, how are they talking to each other when the captors took them away? I guess they could have programmed their language into them as new memories, but then how did they talk to Chakotay and Neelix? Jessica on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 10:14 pm: Well, Chakotay and Neelix had implanted communicators. Maybe that took care of the language. # Seven seemed to have no trouble reading the personnel files in that strange script, but maybe the local race was once assimilated by the Borg. ''Jessica on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 10:14 pm:''I'd guess that the language was programmed in with the memories (having a workforce that didn't understand the language would be nearly worthless). # Harvey Kitzman on Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 12:53 pm: I was hoping for THE PHOTONIC CANNON! In a rare display of continuity, I was pleased to see Holodoc with the command protocols. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 9:05 pm: The photonic cannon wasn't real; it was a fictional device that Doc bluffed the Hierarchy aliens into believing was real. Photonic energy is just the Treknobabbled term for hologram energy. Harvey Kitzman on Sunday, May 20, 2001 - 5:49 pm: Luigi - I know that. I'm just saying that it would have been funny if he would have tried the bluff again. Category:Episodes Category:Voyager